H.B. school district accuses waste hauler of health hazards

Dec. 17, 2013

Updated 3:20 p.m.

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A pile of crushed cement sits at the Rainbow Environmental Services facility in Huntington Beach. The waste site is near an elementary school and a preschool in the Ocean View School District, which is suing Rainbow. The district alleges the company has been negligent about health concerns that is says are caused by the waste operations. PHOTO COURTESY EDMOND CONNOR

A pile of crushed cement sits at the Rainbow Environmental Services facility in Huntington Beach. The waste site is near an elementary school and a preschool in the Ocean View School District, which is suing Rainbow. The district alleges the company has been negligent about health concerns that is says are caused by the waste operations. PHOTO COURTESY EDMOND CONNOR

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HUNTINGTON BEACH – The Ocean View School District is suing Rainbow Environmental Services, a waste disposal company located across the street from two of the district’s schools in a low-income neighborhood, alleging that dust and chemicals from the operation are making students sick.

In the lawsuit, filed Dec. 10 in Orange County Superior Court against Rainbow Environmental Services, LLC, Rainbow Transfer/Recycling, Inc. and Rainbow Disposal Co., Inc., the district alleges the company has been allowed to “repeatedly increase the size of, the daily tonnage of solid waste processed at, and the amount of noxious emissions … with virtually no oversight by the City.”

The suit accuses the company of public and private nuisance, gross negligence, trespass and strict liability for “ultra-hazardous” activities.

Rainbow Environmental Services spokeswoman Sue Gordon said Monday she could not comment on the lawsuit. In October, when asked by the Register about the community health concerns, Gordon said the company was in compliance with all regulatory requirements, but would not be more specific.

Since the late 1950s, Rainbow has had the contract as the city’s trash hauler.

Huntington Beach City Attorney Jennifer McGrath said she was unable to comment on the suit.

Rainbow and the school district have been at odds in recent months, with district officials alleging the company has polluted the Oak View neighborhood with dust and chemicals with operations such as cement-crushing.

The Oak View neighborhood has a higher level of poverty than much of the rest of Huntington Beach, and most residents there are Latinos. Nearly 1,000 children attend the school sites – Oak View Elementary School and Oak View Preschool – and nearly 100 teachers and staff members work at the two schools.

The lawsuit states that “complaints to the school nurse relating to allergies, asthma, colds, sore throats, coughs, headaches, nausea and stomachaches have seen a dramatic increase since Rainbow began intensifying its concrete crushing operations in or about 2009.”

The lawsuit also alleges that rotting piles of waste at the company’s site attract sea gulls to the dump. The gulls take the food and then drop the waste and feces all over the schools, according to the document.

When residents complain about the smell of the rotting waste, the suit says, the company “sprays unidentified chemicals … with a Pine-Sol-like odor” on the piles, which teachers have called “sickening.”

“Whether students come from affluent or poor neighborhoods, no elementary school in California should be subjected to cement dust and odors,” said Edmond Connor, an attorney for the school district.

The suit also alleges that community members are being exposed to hazardous substances such as chromium-6 and respirable crystalline silica, putting them at risk for cancer, as well as decomposing waste that causes an unbearable odor, the suit said.

Students, teachers and staff members have complained about the dust, chemicals and smells at City Council meetings about the rezoning of land owned by Rainbow. At the same meetings, Rainbow employees who live in the Oak View neighborhood have talked about the importance of the jobs Rainbow provides to the community.

Connor said that the district wants compensation for damages, but is mostly seeking a solution.

“That might come in the form of a new air-filtration system, maybe a new enclosed area for kids to eat lunch,” he said, adding that the district would expect the company to pay.

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